Columnist, poet and pundit Katha Pollitt has spent the better part of two decades writing about politics, feminism and the intersection between the two. The Chronicle’s Claudia Feldman caught up with Pollitt in New York City by phone on Wednesday, as Pollitt was juggling deadlines and calls and preparing for a trip to Houston. She’ll be addressing a conference on gender, creativity and the new longevity, sponsored by the University of Houston Women’s Studies Program, tonight.

Q: How old are you, and how should I identify you?

A: I’m 59, and I’m a columnist and poet. And could I mention my new book? Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories.

Q: You’re writing books, poetry and a column every other week for The Nation. How did you work your way into such a cool career perch?

A: I graduated from Harvard-Radcliffe, got my master of fine arts from Columbia and started at The Nation as the literary editor back in the ’80s. I wrote for them and worked as an editor in various capacities until 1994, when I started my column. I write a lot about abortion rights — often that doesn’t get talked about in a helpful way — and equal pay for equal work, violence against women, the ongoing struggle for equal representation in government, and sexism in the media.

Q: For example?

A: I wasn’t a supporter of Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign, but I do think she was treated by the press in a very hostile way. And by the public, too. There was obsessive coverage of her looks, her laugh, her marriage, her misty moment in New Hampshire. I don’t think male candidates get this kind of stuff.

Q: What will you be talking about tonight?

A: Old is the new young. I’m going to talk about the ways in which getting older is really different than it’s historically been. There are so many more possibil-ities for starting new things, developing new talents and becoming a better version of yourself. I don’t think historically that’s been the case. In 1900, the life expect-ancy was 54. Most people worked until they died, and they had very little leisure.

Q: So, are you excited about getting old?

A: I don’t think anybody is looking forward to it. With age comes death, and a lot of people do end up poor, sick, demented. But if you compare aging today to the past, I think there are grounds for hope. If you consider how many people were desperately poor before Social Security and Medicare, I think you can see there have been some very positive changes, with more to come. One of the good things we got from the ’60s and ’70s is the idea of people organizing with others like themselves to fight discrimination and unfairness. People speak up a lot more than they used to.

Q: Are you married? Divorced?

A: I got married two years ago. I had been married and divorced, and we had one daughter, who is 21.

Q: Were you surprised to marry again?

A: I wasn’t looking to get married. Love is one thing. Marriage is another. I wanted to find love with a good person, and I did. Marriage has been the icing on the cake. My husband is a professor of sociology at New York University. His name is Steven Lukes.

Q: What columns have you written that have been most controversial?

A: I’ve written about Sarah Palin, and I cannot believe the hate mail I’m still getting. Ninety percent of it is from men, and I even got a hate message left on an answering tape that went on and on and culminated in the person inviting me to call him so he could tell me again how evil and foolish I was.

Q: Has Palin done anything for feminism, even inadvertently?

A: She clarified what it isn’t. Feminism is about policy, about making the world better for all women. It’s not about one woman voting for another woman because they share the same anatomy or even share some aspects of their way of life. Also, she forced those very conservative, family-value types who are always telling women they should stay home to acknowledge that, of course, you can have five children and be governor and run for vice president, too. And she also showed that women all across the political spectrum, whether they are pro-choice, anti-choice, liberal or conservative, want power and respect. The old model of femininity — the filly doormat model of femininity — is really gone.

Q: So, when did you learn to drive?

A: I was 51. In Texas, that sounds completely insane. But in New York City, people don’t drive. And if you don’t learn when you’re young, it’s harder later. In the book, I wrote about learning to drive as a metaphor for taking control and breaking through and doing things that are difficult for you. And not depending so much on men.